Thursday, February 16, 2006
WAR crashes Oxford/Merck Event then on to Pfizer home demo.

On February 16th, a member of Win Animal Rights received an e-mail invitation to attend a lecture sponsored by Merck Research Laboratories at the prestigious Rockefeller University. The guest lecturer was Elizabeth Robertson, PhD and Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, University of Oxford.

The title of Elizabeth’s presentation was: “Making Heads and Tails of the Early Mouse Embryo” and the invitation noted that all were welcome to attend. How could we possibly refuse such an invitation?

A small cadre of activists sat quietly in the last row of the auditorium, among some 200 budding animal researchers in training, and listened to Elizabeth speak of her research using mice. About 10 minutes into her presentation, we had heard enough. Several activists stood in the back of the auditorium holding large anti-Oxford and anti-vivisection posters as we chanted: “Vivisection is a lie, How many animals have to die” and “Oxford Lab, Shut It Down”.

Elizabeth and her sponsor from Merck turned bright shades of red as everyone in the auditorium turned to watch and listen to the protesters. Our final chant rang through the large auditorium: “For the animals we will fight, We know where you sleep at night”. Our message delivered, we left before university security arrived.”

Another Home Visit for Pfizer Executive

Spurred on by our successful protest against the Oxford Lab and Merck Pharma, we headed several blocks south to the posh hi-rise apartment building of Karen Katen, executive of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. As always, the moment the chanting began, lights came on and windows opened on both sides of the quiet city street.

The doormen of this building seem to be amused by the graphic photos of bloodied mutilated animals. In a “shout-out”, activists addressed the amused doormen……”It takes a sick twisted pathetic pervert to laugh at pictures of puppies cut up into mince meat.” They might be laughing now, but they won’t be laughing much longer. That is a promise!

Several neighbors stopped by to ask questions. Many were sympathetic, when they learned of the cruelty and horrors of animal testing at HLS. Others clearly valued their own comfort more. We promised both groups that we would continue to visit and voice our disapproval, as long as Pfizer continues to contract with Huntingdon Life Sciences. We will never back down, until they stop the killing.